How Sick is Too Sick?

The question has been begged again and again on numerous websites and blogs, demanding the question, "How sick is too sick?" Unfortunately, it isn"t that easy of an answer. With so many styles and unique visions, it can definitely be a challenging task to come to a direct conclusion.

Author Noel Overend was curious how far he could push the boundaries of all things gruesome before people put the book down in disgust rather than "taking a deep breath to avoid being sick and then carrying on."

He toyed with the idea of a pedophile getting his "just desserts", and wanted to know the opinions of others before continuing on his quest to the decision to march forth or abort.

People generally agree that violence for the sake of violence is unnecessary, but if done in an appropriate manner, it can add to the atmosphere and story. You don't want to overdo the violence "just because". What you're going to end up doing, is having way too much focus on bland and generic killing, and leaving the story four blocks behind in a dust trail.

Your rule number one is not to let it take away too much focus from the novel. Let the suspense build and unleash a few kills if you need to. Too many kills in a short amount of time can be uninspired and dull if it doesn't have the right fit.

Another rule to remember is to NEVER censor yourself. However, if you're riding the fence over a certain amount of subject matter, ask yourself why. If you were writing about racism, you might want to be sure if derogatory slang is warranted. You wouldn't want that going into a nationally known publication and have people getting the wrong idea about you, now, would you? That might be one reason to censor certain words.

Rule number three is an easy one. Make it memorable! Eli Roth did when he showed us "Hostel". Don't remember? Well, I'll tell you. He went for the gross-out in the scene where the hero finds a woman being tortured. He promptly kills the wrongdoer, only to find the woman's eyeball hanging down to her cheek. He's apprehensive about doing anything at first, but knows he has to help her out. Grabbing a pair of scissors, he carefully snips the ocular cable and is immediately squirted with pus-like juices. Disgusting, but appropriate and entertaining, as even a 26 year old horror fanatic had trouble viewing it without having to rewind the scene.

Finally, I will leave you with this. You don't always have to rely on blood, guts, and chunky gore to get the point across. It has long been said that as long as the story is good enough, the rest should come naturally.

Anyone can buy some corn syrup and red food coloring, toss in a few cold hot dogs and toss the ingredients into a blender and go to town with a camcorder. The difference is, no matter how great your special effects are, if your feature falls flat on its face, no one will care.

Your audience won't even bother watching the whole thing. Sadly, George Romero's "Diary of the Dead" comes to mind. If there is no method to the madness, I will simply turn off my movie player and find a better horror movie to watch. Best of luck to you, my fledglings!